Shares of Meta Platforms jumped nearly 12 per cent to $628 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday, July 1, after a report said Meta is preparing to launch a cloud computing business offering AI computing power to external customers, potentially rivaling Amazon and Microsoft. The report, from Bloomberg, indicated Meta is exploring monetising its AI infrastructure by allowing developers to access Meta-hosted AI models or renting out raw computing capacity for direct access to its data centres and AI chips, under an internal project called Meta Compute. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in May that launching a cloud computing business was "definitely on the table." Since the start of the year, Meta has entered multi-billion-dollar partnerships with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom to secure AI chips and hardware. The aggressive spending has raised investor concerns over returns. Meta's reported plan follows SpaceX's similar move last month, when AI startup Anthropic signed a deal to utilise the full computing capacity of its Colossus 1 AI data centre in Memphis, securing access to more than 300 megawatts of AI compute power. Collectively, the world's four largest technology companies, including Meta, are expected to spend up to $725 billion on AI-related investments this year.